This recipe will allow to you make a house and at least a dozen and a half cookies as well. It takes some elbow grease to get the flour kneaded in, but the finished product is soft enough to be extremely tempting, but firm enough to construct a house out of.
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1-1/3 cups molasses
4 eggs
8 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 pounds confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 egg whites
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the molasses and eggs. Combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour, baking soda, salt, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; beat into the molasses mixture. Gradually stir in the remaining flour by hand to form a stiff dough. Divide dough into 2 pieces.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Place pieces 1 inch apart onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing
In a medium bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cream of tartar. Blend in egg whites. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat for about 5 minutes, or until mixture is thick and stiff. Keep covered with a moist cloth and plastic wrap until ready to decorate.
yeah, we went the graham cracker route this year cuz we're slackers. your house is so darling, though! how did you do the red (like on the shutters, etc)? is it just icing with dye in it? so cute!
ReplyDeleteI used Wilton gel food coloring to get the red. And the icing is flood. So you take royal icing, and add 1 tsp to 1/2 tsp of water. Mix after each addition until you get the consistency of syrup.
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